Essay | Nathanial Hawthrone's Uses of Dark and Light Imagery

In general, lightness tends to represent innocence and good fortune, whereas darkness tends to symbolize the devil, death, or fear. Nevertheless, light and darkness can be used in order to support theme in numerous short stories.

Commencing with the story My Kinsman, Major Molineux, the first example of a visual image is on page 326, "It was near nine o'clock of the moonlight evening." The "moonlight evening" encourages us to believe that this is a shady and uncertain point of the story. Robin is a very questioning and doubtful individual. Therefore, it can be collected that a theme of uncertainty can be supported here by a hesitant and shady visual image of lighting.

"Robin laid hold of the skirt of the old man's coat just when the light from the open door and windows of a barber's shop fell upon both their figures." Revealed on page 327...
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